hearts of glass
by gracieuse
Summary: after all, hearts of glass are the easiest to break – massie/derrick. summer '13 exchange for one hundred sleepless nights.


**prompts:** knitting needles, a science textbook, foreign money and light sabers

**a/n: **i'm really sorry this is late. like, really sorry. oh, and i've decided to just give up on the whole collection of one-shots idea. or maybe i'll just post some fic exchanges there. i'm still thinking. i didn't know what to do with the prompts, but they pop up somewhere.

**dedication: **dee (one hundred sleepless nights)

_disclaimed._

* * *

**hearts of glass**  
massie/derrick

**.**

_Preschool._

Massie Block has brown pigtails, and wears a different dress every single day. Derrick Harrington always has that goofy smile on his face, and has this bad habit of flipping his blond hair, Justin Bieber style. She likes princesses, tea parties, and dolls. He likes soccer and Legos. They're two completely different people, so it makes sense that they don't bother to play with each other. You know what they say. Opposites attract.

She's playing 'house' with this Ahnna Pincher girl, and as always, Ahnna's the mom, and Massie's the three-year-old daughter who gets bossed around. She doesn't mind, though, because 'house' is her absolute _favorite _game.

She's in the play kitchen, happily messing around with the different foods, when something hits her leg. "Ow!" she screams, and sees that it's a soccer ball. "Didn't you hear Miss April? She said no sports inside," she says in a commanding tone. It's - _ugh - _Derrick Harrington, also known as _the most annoying guy in preschool_. "Get rid of that soccer ball right now or I'll have to do it myself. I have knitting needles and I'm not afraid to use them. It was supposed to be for a fake scarf, but, y'know..." She smirks evilly, and it's enough to make him back away slowly and mutter an apology under his breath.

The next day, she's playing with her Barbie dolls. She can't decide what dress to dress her in, the pink one's pretty, but the blue one just has a certain quality about it. After a few minutes, she throws her hands up in frustration and gets up and leaves without her doll. She never liked it anyway.

A few seconds later, there's a crash.

She turns around, only to find Derrick Harrington sprawled out on the ground, having tripped over the doll in an attempt to find his fucking soccer ball. Now it's his turn to say "ow."

She puts her hands on her hips and sighs, facing him. "I told you not to play soccer indoors."

He sticks his tongue out at her, and she can't help but think that he looks cute, but she quickly pushes that thought away. Instead, she just walks off, not even bothering to help him up. He smiles, thinking that she's pretty with her auburn curls and pink dress.

You could say that fate brought them together.

**.**

_Kindergarten._

They go to different schools now, but y'know, they're perfectly fine with it, because they don't have to see each other ever again. She's at Westchester Day School, and he's at this place called Wayside Elementary School. Their paths never cross, and that's just how they want it.

She and that Ahnna Pincher girl are still friends, best friends, actually. They do just about everything together. When it's time for centers, they play house, just like they always do, and she vaguely remembers that day in preschool where Derrick kicked a soccer ball at her. She misses his annoyingness (Is that even a word? After all, she's only a kindergartener), and how he never failed to make her laugh - _no yell_.

Meanwhile, he's made some friends, specifically Cam Fisher, Chris Plovert, and Kemp Hurley. He feels like he's finally happy, because all his friends just _love _soccer. Oh, and there's no Massie Block to boss him around. During recess, they always go on the field to play soccer, and he trips over yet another doll. This doll isn't a Barbie, he doesn't know exactly what it is, but it has auburn hair just like Massie's, and piercing amber eyes.

Maybe it's the universe sending them a sign.

**.**

_Fourth grade._

Coincidentally, both their schools go on a field trip to the Central Park Zoo, where they're allowed to do whatever they want. Massie and the Ahnnabees (Ahnna Pincher's clique) head straight for the baby pandas, then work their way to the zebras, tigers, and lions, purposely avoiding the snakes.

On the other hand, Derrick, Cam, Chris, and Kemp spend all their time watching the snakes. When Massie and the Ahnnabees accidentally wander in, thinking that it was the bird exhibit, they scream, which catches his attention. "Ehmagawd, snakes!" She starts running around in circles, and her face is extremely pale. He finds it almost amusing, but then realizes that she's probably really scared of snakes, and needs calming down.

He walks over to her, and says, "Hey. Stop. They're just snakes. They won't harm you. They're in cages, and they can't get out. Don't worry, you'll be okay." That's when she stops running and he gets a good luck at his face. Holy crap. The auburn hair. The amber eyes with gold flecks in them. It's her.

She recognizes him as well. The blond hair. The blue eyes. The T-shirt with a soccer ball on it. It's him.

"What are you doing here?" they both say at the exact same time. Their friends just stand there, bewildered.

"You know her?" Cam whispers in Derrick's ear.

"Wait, is that Derrick Harrington from preschool?" Ahnna asks Massie.

They both nod at the same time. She scolds herself silently for doing things at the exact same time as him. He does the same to himself. "Ugh, this was a pretty good field trip - one I actually liked, for a change - and now you have to come along and ruin it," she says.

"What did I do?" he exclaims. "I'm not the one who led you into the snake exhibit. I'm pretty sure you walked in here yourself." They argue for a few more minutes, with their friends watching helplessly (the last thing they want is to be dragged into this fight, aka World War III). "I hate you," he finally says.

"I hate you too," she responds smugly.

**.**

_Sixth grade._

She goes to Octavian Country Day School, and he goes to Briarwood Academy. Briarwood is OCD's brother school, and OCD is Briarwood's sister school. Once she learns of this, she hates it. And he hates it as well.

"Ew, plaid is _so _last year." She rolls her amber eyes. She's changed since preschool. She's no longer a _follower_, she's a _leader_. Or an 'alpha,' as she likes to call it. She's the most popular girl and he's the most popular guy. They should totally date, but they're not.

He dribbles around the soccer ball, doing his warm-up routine. The big game's starting in five minutes, and this would determine whether or not they made it to the finals. He wipes a bead of sweat off his forehead, and tries to control his breathing. They're all depending on him. Their fate depends on him, the star goalie. Their MVP.

She goes up to him, and says, "Good luck today. You'll need it," and exchanges a round of high-fives with her little 'Pretty Committee.'

"Ha, ha," he scoffs. "We'll win this game. I'll show you. I'm the star player, and without me, this team would be nothing." He didn't care if he sounded selfish, he just wanted to get the point across.

"I'll be there when you lose, laughing my face off." Another found of high-fives are exchanged, and he's starting to get really mad.

"Look, Block. I know you hate me, but at least show some school spirit. Most girls would be rooting for me and my team. If we win, don't think of it as me winning. Think of it as us winning. Our two schools. As a team. Please," he begs.

She reaches into her bag, and hurls a science textbook at him. "That wasn't an accident."

**.**

_Eighth grade._

Group dates aren't easy, but their friends are all going out with each other, and no one wants to spend a Friday night _alone_. So they tag along to the movie, trying their hardest not to hold hands when Cam holds Claire's hand, or look at each other when Josh kisses Alicia's cheek.

"Popcorn?" he asks. She just glares at him with those piercing amber eyes that he's known since preschool, and he can't help but melt - not in the good way, though. She has that special quality that makes people fear her and admire her at the same time. He slumps down in his seat, and waves his light saber around, feeling like an idiot for thinking that they would be watching Star Wars.

"Light sabers are immature," she says, grinning.

"Of course you would know everything about immaturity," he fires back, satisfied that he's about to get the last word (for once since preschool).

"Well, excuse me, princess Derrick. I'm more alpha than you'll ever be."

Now he's full-on shouting, and she's just sitting there, looking amused. Everyone around them is shushing them, but he doesn't care, he's just really annoyed with her. He's had enough of her pushing him around. But he doesn't get the chance to hurt her, because guards come and usher them both out of the theater. He pulls out some foreign money quickly, and hands it to the guard, who shakes his head.

"Were you trying to bribe him? Nice going, Derrick," she mutters.

"Block, you started it." He shoves her slightly, not enough that she would fall, but she still does fall. She screams, and his heart starts beating super fast, because what if she's dead, and it's all his fault? "Massie." He shakes her. "Massie," he yells. She's still not making a sound, eyes closed. He's starting to worry now. "MASSIE!"

She suddenly starts laughing, and gets up. "Had you fooled there, didn't I?"

"It wasn't funny," he says. And it seriously wasn't.

**.**

_Tenth grade._

The back-to-school dance is coming up. And everyone's going with someone. But two people still don't have dates. Massie Block and Derrick Harrington. Their friends make them go with each other, just so they could all go together, and they go along with it, because no one wants to miss a homecoming dance.

So they go together, and it's really awkward because there's just all these couples dancing around them, and they have no idea what to do. He doesn't know why, exactly, he's doing this, but he reaches for her hand and says, "May I have this dance?"

She blushes beet red and fumbles with her purple silk strapless dress. Her auburn hair cascades down her back in curls, and her amber eyes are brighter than ever. "Yes," she says, giggling.

A slow song plays, and they start dancing. They don't talk, just stare into each other's eyes. They both find this extremely uncomfortable, but all their classmates are watching, so they suck it up and put on a brave face. Their friends come over and give them a big thumbs-up. She pretends to puke and he does the same.

But deep down inside, they're both having a fun time, even though they're here with each other.

When it's time to leave, he kisses her hand and says, "It was amazing to be able to dance with you, my highness."

She just smiles and struts out confidently, her heels click-clacking on the polished floor. But before she leaves, she looks back and gives him a wink.

**.**

_Twelfth grade _is when she commits suicide.

It was too much for her. All the pressure of being perfect. She jumped in the lake and drowned herself. She couldn't take it any longer. The drama that comes with being alpha. Everyone expected her to be the girl who never messed up, never cried, never had a stray hair or messed up makeup. But she couldn't be perfect. So her glass heart broke. She finally crumbled.

When he finds out, he's astonished. His word is slowly falling down. He realizes that he loves her, ever since that first day they met in preschool. He annoyed her because he loved her. It was like that song. 'Everything I do, I do it for you.' He tries to smile, tried to put on a brave face when his friends all say, "Aren't you glad she's finally gone?" But he isn't happy, and he just wants to punch them, to punch them all in the face, because how could they be so coldhearted?

One day, he just packs up his bag and leaves. He's had enough of this town. Wherever he goes, people talk about her. He can't take it anymore; any mention of her makes him cry. He sees her everywhere. In the color purple. In any word with the letter 'M' in it. In the newspaper. In his dreams. But most importantly, he sees her in his soccer ball. How they first met.

He doesn't even know where he's going, he doesn't even feel like he's living anymore, but his legs are still functioning, and they're taking him somewhere. When his legs stop, he realizes that he's at the lake. Where she drowned herself. He doesn't know if this lake has a name, but he's seen it in the newspaper and on TV for the past few days.

He knows what he has to do.

He looks up to heaven, with tears in his eyes. "Massie, I know that you're up there. I just want to let you know that I'm sorry. For everything I've ever done. Can we please start all over? I'm begging you. I'm going to see you again."

He closes his eyes, and manages to say three more words before he jumps in the water. "I . . . love . . . you."

**.**

**massie block  
aged 17 years; 1996-2013**

**derrick harrington  
aged 17 years; 1996-2013**

**r.i.p.**

_fin._


End file.
